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Note:This is a student project from a course
affiliated with the Ethnography of the University
Initiative. EUI supports faculty development of courses in which students conduct
original research on their university, and encourages students to think about colleges
and universities in relation to their communities and within larger national and global
contexts.

Disparity in Disability: How the History of Disabled Athletics Programs Illustrates the Inequality in the University’s Treatment of Blind and Motor-Disabled Students

The University of Illinois is well-known historically for its accommodations for disabled students. To this day, the university proudly parades its reputation as a leader in opportunities for disabled students.
This paper re-examines how worthy the university is of this reputation through the historical development and support of athletic programs for blind and motor-disabled students. The key areas in which these programs differed include the timing and motivation for the start of the programs, the staff assigned to oversee activities, and the facilities used for practice. Upon establishing these differences, the paper also discusses some of the reasons underlying the differences in how each of these groups was treated, specifically with regard to the perception of the blind student population. We see that blind students were viewed as problematic and that they were characterized as a minority group within the disabled student population.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Diversity on Campus/Equity and AccessThis collection examines ways in which the U.S. university and the American college experience are affected by diversity, and difference. In particular, these student projects examine experiences of diversity on campus, including important contemporary social, cultural, and political debates on equity and access to university resources.